Action Nodes

Action nodes 🟦 perform non-visual side effects — they execute system operations, control game objects, trigger events, and interact with Unity systems.

Color Coding: Blue (🟦) — easily identifiable as system operations

Overview

• Purpose: Execute system operations, control objects, trigger events, modify state
• Execution: Instant or timed — can execute immediately or wait for duration
• Outputs: One or more output ports for continuing execution
• Activation: Receives execution from triggers, animations, or conditions

Common Characteristics:

• Instant Operations: Most actions execute immediately (Set Active, Play Audio)
• Timed Operations: Some actions wait for duration (Wait)
• System-Level: Affect game systems beyond visual changes
• Event-Driven: Often used to trigger other game logic

Action Categories

Actions are organized into functional categories:

Category	Examples	Description
System	Log Message, Wait, Set Variable	General system logic and data operations
GameObject	Set Active, Enable/Disable Component	Object and component control
UI	Show/Hide UI, Set Text	UI manipulation and text updates
Audio	Play Audio	Sound playback and audio control
Animation	Play Animation	Animator and Legacy Animation triggering
Scene/Graph	Load Scene, Pause/Resume Graph, Stop Graph, Reset Graph	Graph or scene management
Event	Invoke Unity Event	Event-driven system integration

Quick Reference Table

Action Type	Use Case	Typical Target
Log Message	Debug output, action logging	Console
Set Active	Toggle GameObject visibility	GameObject Active State
Play Audio	Sound effects, background music	AudioSource, Audio Clips
Play Animation	Trigger Animator/Animation	Animator Component, Animation Clips
Load Scene	Level transitions	Scene Name String
Invoke Unity Event	Communicate with other systems	UnityEvent Reference
Set Variable	Store game state	PlayerPrefs Variables
Increment Variable	Modify game variables	PlayerPrefs Variables
Show/Hide UI	Control UI visibility	UI GameObject
Set Text	Update text content	Text Component
Pause/Resume Graph	Control graph execution	GraphExecutor Component
Stop Graph	Stop graph execution	GraphExecutor Component
Reset Graph	Reset graph state	GraphExecutor Component
Wait	Timing delays	Time Duration
Enable/Disable Component	Toggle component state	Component References

Common Action Nodes

Log Message

Purpose: Writes messages to Unity's console for debugging and logging

Configuration:

• Message: Text to display in console
• Log Type: Log, Warning, or Error

Example:

On Start → Log Message (Type: Log, "Game Started")

Set Active

Purpose: Shows or hides GameObjects by setting their active state

Configuration:

• Target Object: GameObject reference
• Set Active: True to show, false to hide
• Toggle Mode: Toggle current state

Example:

On Button Click → Fade Out (Panel) → Wait 0.5s → Set Active (Target: Panel, Active: false)

Play Audio

Purpose: Plays audio clips through an AudioSource component

Configuration:

• Audio Source: AudioSource component (auto-created if null)
• Audio Clip: Sound file to play
• Volume: Audio volume (0.0 to 1.0)
• Pitch: Audio pitch (0.1 to 3.0)
• Loop: Whether audio repeats
• Stop Previous: Stop currently playing audio before starting

Example:

On Button Click → Play Audio (Clip: "Click Sound", Volume: 0.8)

Play Animation

Purpose: Triggers Animator (Mecanim) or Legacy Animation clips

Configuration:

• Target Animator: Animator component (Mecanim)
• Trigger Name: Animator trigger parameter name
• State Name: Animator state name
• Use Trigger: Use trigger (true) or state (false)
• Cross Fade Duration: Transition duration for state
• Target Animation: Legacy Animation component
• Animation Clip: Legacy animation clip
• Play Legacy Animation: Use Legacy Animation instead of Animator

Example:

On Button Click → Play Animation (Animator: Player, Trigger: "Attack")

Load Scene

Purpose: Loads Unity scenes synchronously or asynchronously

Configuration:

• Scene Name: Name of scene to load
• Load Mode: Single (replace) or Additive (add to current)
• Async Load: Load asynchronously with progress
• Show Loading Screen: Display loading UI during load

Example:

On Button Click → Fade Out (Current Screen) → Load Scene (Scene: "GameLevel", Mode: Single)

Wait

Purpose: Pauses execution for a specified duration

Configuration:

• Duration: Time to wait in seconds
• Use Unscaled Time: Ignore Time.timeScale

Example:

On Start → Fade In → Wait 1s → Scale Up

Set Variable / Increment Variable

Purpose: Store or modify game variables (PlayerPrefs)

Configuration:

• Variable Name: Name of variable to set/increment
• Value: Value to set (Set Variable) or amount to add (Increment Variable)
• Variable Type: Int, Float, or String

Example:

On Achievement Unlocked → Set Variable (Name: "AchievementsUnlocked", Value: 5, Type: Int)

Show/Hide UI

Purpose: Control UI element visibility

Configuration:

• Target UI: UI GameObject reference
• Show: True to show, false to hide

Example:

On Button Click → Show UI (Target: "HUD", Show: true)

Set Text

Purpose: Update text content dynamically

Configuration:

• Target Text: Text component reference
• Text: New text content

Example:

On Score Changed → Set Text (Target: "ScoreText", Text: "Score: 100")

Graph Control Actions

Pause/Resume Graph: Pause or resume graph execution Stop Graph: Stop graph execution completely Reset Graph: Reset graph to initial state

Example:

On Pause Button Click → Pause Graph
On Resume Button Click → Resume Graph

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Key Takeaways:

• Action nodes = system operations — They perform non-visual tasks
• Instant or timed — Most execute immediately, some wait for duration
• System-level — Affect game systems beyond visual changes
• Event-driven — Often used to trigger other game logic

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Next: Event Nodes